NIN fans could have gone to any file sharing network to download the entire CC-BY-NC-SA album legally. Many did, and thousands will continue to do so. So why would fans bother buying files that were identical to the ones on the file sharing networks? One explanation is the convenience and ease of use of NIN and Amazon’s MP3 stores. But another is that fans understood that purchasing MP3s would directly support the music and career of a musician they liked.

The next time someone tries to convince you that releasing music under CC will cannibalize digital sales, remember that Ghosts I-IV broke that rule, and point them here.

That’s excellent news. Many people are still sceptical about the concept of free music, suspecting that there must be a catch somewhere. A CC licence is a boon to anyone who want to retain control over their free music but who wants to get it distributed and heard – and make money from it, should they choose to do so. CC is in the best tradition of the internet – it helps us to help each other.

The phenomenon is something that is really hard to explain since straight economics would never be able to predict the outcome for NIN and Radiohead’s experiments. I blogged about this a few weeks ago and explained why the model can work for some, but not for all and why the entire industry wasn’t flipped upside down because of these two outliers.

Let’s hope Radiohead – and others – take it further in ’09 ..
RHs experiment was interesting mainly because they are who they are. Knowing their fans and understanding how the internet works, the outcome was pretty predictable. I don’t know NIN or Radiohead’s motivation, but NIN’s model shows us that courage pays off.

I personally bought it because I liked what I heard from Ghosts I (the freebie), it was cheap and I knew I was supporting Trent directly. Same thing with NiggyTardust and The Slip – I bought the latter physically.

Hopefully this will have some influence on the way these corporations are run, but I doubt it. The industry is far too conservative. In my opinion, the hope lies with smaller, independent companies or the artists themselves.

Though I am optimistic about this and Radiohead’s success and others such as Cory Doctorow in writing, I do wonder how much this has to do with being famous in the first place, or at least net-famous. It remains to be seen whether someone can rise from obscurity to some sort of money-making fame on the back of free downloads, with or without a pay-for component.

As fans, we can feel closer to the artists and see that we directly make contributions to them and their continued success.

As artists, you can begin to cut out the middle man who has has a strangle hold not only on your returns, but also on your creative control. This will free you to make music exactly how you envision it, thus causing fans to further support you.

Great album. I bought it because of the convenience of the NIN website. It got me hooked when I downloaded the first 9 tracks (which are free of charge on NIN.com). After I saw how clean and fast a download it was, I decided to throw in $5 ($5!!) for the entire album. Saved me a lot more time than downloading it from the Pirate Bay.

All i can say is congratulations to Trent for his bravery in taking the leap in doing something so brave, who’d of thought a four part, instrumental album would be the Number 1 MP3 album on Amazon, of all sites?!

I think this is the biggest middle finger Trent could ever have against the record industry and it’s awesome.

This is very cool news. Unfortunately you’re not going to convince the RIAA folks. They will just use the huge number of free downloads to point out how much more you could have sold on Amazon if it wasn’t free elsewhere.

I purchased the special edition of Ghosts I-IV, and have also purchased Niggy Tardust and The Slip, in my ridiculous fan-boy support of Nine Inch Nails.

Yes, while a CC-license did not hinder (and may have helped, who knows for sure) the sales of this work, what this proves is that Trent, or someone in his inner circle, is unbelievably good at marketing.

I’m sure that someone will respond to this post with a negative tone, but i’m not saying that this intelligent marketing was, or is, in any way, a bad thing.

I congratulate Nine Inch Nails for effectively widening their fanbase tenfold by showing that they understand internet culture.

[…] start-ups like Google and eBay to lower their transaction costs. Joi then discusses some of the successes CC has seen in the last year, making for an great overview of what CC has been up to and where we are […]

[…] like Google and eBay to lower their transaction costs and innovate. Joi then discusses some of the successes CC has seen in the last year, making for an great overview of what CC has been up to and where we are […]

Hello everyone !
I’m working for Sabam (the belgian equivalent to PRS for Music), and I’m truely interrested in the way NIN managed to deal with Creative Commons and Collective rights management !

Is there anyone that could help me to understand how they did? How they abstract this album from the collective right management PRS, or Sabam, or Sacem, or any other Collective Right management incorporation did ?

Was it a ponctual thing? Or did they go far from any collective right management societies ?

It is crucial to understand that artists are skilled in producing art – not copies.

Printers are the ones who produce copies.

So, pay the artist for their art.

The market for copies has ended, because everyone can make their own.

If you can make your own copies why pay anyone else for them? Printers may well be unhappy to lose their monopoly, and artists would be misguided to believe they can sell copies where printers cannot, but the artist remains the only one who can produce the art, and their audience those who want to pay them.

It is crucial to understand that artists are skilled in producing art – not copies.

Printers are the ones who produce copies.

So, pay the artist for their art.

The market for copies has ended, because everyone can make their own.

If you can make your own copies why pay anyone else for them? Printers may well be unhappy to lose their monopoly, and artists would be misguided to believe they can sell copies where printers cannot, but the artist remains the only one who can produce the art, and their audience those who want to pay them.

Great album. I bought it because of the convenience of the NIN website. It got me hooked when I downloaded the first 9 tracks (which are free of charge on NIN.com). After I saw how clean and fast a download it was, I decided to throw in $5 ($5!!) for the entire album. Saved me a lot more time than downloading it from the Pirate Bay.